Tip Drill

For the third online assignment that was due this week, we were instructed to watch a documentary on masculinity in hip hop.  The "Gender Violence" segment was disturbing to watch.  Men frequently called women degrading names such as "bitch" and "hoe" as if talking down to women like that is socially acceptable.  While women were being interviewed one guy went so far as to videotape her butt while the woman seemed to be oblivious to it.  This guy did not even care that she was talking about how these men were degrading her.  One prevalent topic of the video was Nelly's music video for "Tip Drill" and the controversy surrounding it.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/classroom/genderpop.html

In the video, Nelly slid his credit card down a girl's backside, causing a tremendous amount of backlash against him.  Nelly cancelled an appearance at a bone marrow drive, a shocking move since his sister was in need of a bone marrow transplant at the time.  In this article, Nelly defends his music video, saying that the video was played at three in the morning and was aimed at adults.

http://www.sohh.com/2010/09/nelly_still_defends_spicy_tip_drill_vide.html

Even if this was mainly aimed at adult fans, this is still not the image of women artists should be portraying.  We like to assume that adults are mature enough not to treat women in a similar fashion as shown in the video but, sadly, degradation of women is still an issue no matter how old you are.  Nelly also went on to say that the women in his video may end up furthering their goals by appearing in the "Tip Drill" music video.  Whatever those goals may be, it can be assumed that the women in the video will go on to do more degrading music video appearances, depicting them as mere sex objects and not as high-class women with integrity.

The music video is not easy to watch.  It seems like the only thing the women had to do was show off their naked body (partly naked or fully naked), show off their butts, and hump the men and some women.  The phrase "It must be yo ass cause it ain't yo face" is repeated throughout the song, encouraging the idea that women are intended to be looked at because of their bodies.  It is almost like it does not matter what a woman's face looks like as long as they are willing to fornicate with the men.  This is not the image of women that should be shown to people of any age, whether it is at three in the morning for adult fans or three in the afternoon for younger viewers.

Poppy Hartlow's Misplaced Sympathy

This week in class we discussed Cameron D'Ambrosio and how different news media outlets portrayed him in different lights.  Similarly, when a young woman in Steubenville was gang-raped on video by a group of men from her high school, Poppy Hartlow from CNN tried to tell the story from the rapists' points of view, which sparked outrage from many viewers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvUdyNko8LQ

Hartlow reported that the rapists were convicted of raping the young woman and even photographing her naked.  However, Hartlow made it seem tragic because the men were star football players that were devastated by the verdict.  The report went on to say that the men will be in a juvenile detention facility for about two years and the men's lives will be affected by this forever because their sexual offender status will haunt them for the rest of their lives; they will be unable to get a job and neighbors will be aware of their status.  Clearly Hartlow's comments made a lot of viewers angry because she seemed to be sympathizing with the rapists.  As much as newscasters try to tell every side of the story, it is difficult for many to agree with Hartlow's sympathy for the rapists.

Hartlow failed to mention how the woman who was raped will be affected by this for the rest of her life.  This woman was unconscious, but the two men (and perhaps more men) proceeded to rape her as well ask take video and photos throughout.  Hartlow seemed to be mourning the rapists' "tragic fate" as the two high school football stars were convicted of rape.  Many people, myself included, do not agree with this view and claim that the two men deserve the verdict.  As much as a guilty verdict in the case of rape will haunt someone forever, being the victim of a rape will haunt someone forever as well, perhaps in worse ways.  The woman may have to deal with PTSD, a mistrust in men, and distrustful relationships in the future.  Hartlow never mentions this, though; she only mentions how this will affect the rapists.